TRAVELOGUE: Bali, Indonesia

Preparing for our European travel we had to organise Passport for the kids.. When we were taking photos for Lucas Passport, he would not look at the camera. I had to “negotiate” with him and say that if we was to take a good photo we can go holidays, on a plane, to the beach… it worked like magic.. however , safe to say he held me to it. constantly asking me “mummy holiday now?, go to the beach??” this went on for at least 4 months. SOOO, we decided to take the kids to Bali.

This was our first international vacation with the kids. We wanted to test the waters and see how it would be travelling with kids overseas before our big wedding trip. So we decided to take baby steps and go to Bali which is 4 hours away from Perth Direct Flight.

We had 4 full days here, which I found was enough given we planned to stay in a resort and not venture out.

The plane trip was not so bad. Thank you IPAD !

TIP: fill up milk bottles at the cafe in the airport before departure and bring a cooler bag. There is no milk on the plane (well with AirAsia.. ) Lucky I had 2 bottles filled each otherwise there would have been 2 grumpy children.

We arrived in Bali Friday 10pm with both kids still asleep. oh boy was it hot and humid.

We decided to stay at Rimba Jimbaran Resort. Being a Rimba Geust we also had access to Ayana (will do a separate post for each resort).

The Resort is amazing. We were greeted by a floral garland of white and yellow frangipani, a nice cold towel to freshen up and a cold glass of juice to keep hydrated upon arrival. We were quickly checked in and escorted to our upgraded room. =)

The next morning we decided to venture out to breakfast together. Quite interesting how we have to manage our time when going on holidays with the kids. The boys were so excited to be in a different place that they would not sit down for breakfast. They kept going to look at the Koi fishes. I was worried they would fall in the pond so we decided to take turns having breakfast and sitting with the kids. The staff was nice, they could see that we weren’t enjoying breakfast so they came out with some fish food to keep the kids occupied while we try.

We spent the rest of the day by the pool in Rimba, with snacks and drinks by the poolside. Cooper missed out on the kids slide (too young) which was a pity but at least Lucas had fun !

That night, Rimba had a Christmas Tree Light Opening Ceremony. Which was great for the kids. Drinks and Canepe was served in the main lobby while watching the sunset from the infinity pond with sunken lounges. There was also a Santa passing out Christmas tree shaped cookies for the kids and a choir singing carols. It was magical.

On the second day, we decided to venture out of the resort. It was too hot to explore any markets so we ended up relaxing at Potato Beach Club for some drinks, snacks and ice-cream to cool down before heading back to the Resort. Once back at the resort we cooled down by jumping into the pools before heading back to our rooms for a quick nap.

Dinner was at Ayana Kisik Bar & Grill (similar to the seafood at Jimbaran Bay) but at the resort and a tad more $$. The view was AMAZING. the staff was attentive and very accommodating to the kids, they even provided crayons and a colouring book. The food was divine. Bookings are essential to get best views.

Next day we decided to explore Ayana Private Kubu Beach. The trek down those stairs was crazy but it was worth it.

That night for dinner we decided to take part in Rimbas culinary journey at Kampeong Bali with Balinese cultural performance , live cooking station buffet and sampling Bali speciality “babi guling” suckling pig.

The last day in bali was spent by the pool. We went to 4 of the many pools between Ayana/Rimba and stopped by the rock bar.

The First pool we went to was River Pool. it was very pretty but I don’t think the other guest were happy about the kids there so we moved to the main Ayana pool. It was abit overcrowded.(the kids pool at Ayana was closed fro renovation). The kids swam with John whilst I quickly dashed off to check out the ocean pool alone (no kids allowed). After a few hours of swimming we decided to go back to the pools at Ayana. It was best decision. We had the whole pool to ourself. ordered some drinks and pizza and relax for the rest of the day. The kids even napped on the lounge beds and jumped back in the water once they woke up.